Why More Cdn Indiginous Are Leaving Christianity

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When you consider how Christianity historically treated them as having no real value save as converts, it is hardly surprising that as Christianity fades and fragments, they are drifting away. And they have their own rich traditions to explore as they do. Interesting article. I imagine there will be some wailing and gnashing of teeth in some Christian quarters but I hope also some support for them finding their own way again from others.
 
When you consider how Christianity historically treated them as having no real value save as converts, it is hardly surprising that as Christianity fades and fragments, they are drifting away. And they have their own rich traditions to explore as they do. Interesting article. I imagine there will be some wailing and gnashing of teeth in some Christian quarters but I hope also some support for them finding their own way again from others.

Christian faith will continue t deny indigents ... mystic travellers ... emotes? Basic a' priori? Then there are those seized in their own presence ... nothing beyond that eh? Are there consequences with conscience about what went by? Blind item ology ...
 
While Canadian indigenous people are leaving UCCan, in Latin America "in only a century Pentecostalism has become indigenous."


Unlike progressive denominations, Pentecostalism respects and absorbs native culture and offers exciting experience-based spirituality that has converted tens of millions in Latin America.
 
While Canadian indigenous people are leaving UCCan, in Latin America "in only a century Pentecostalism has become indigenous."


Unlike progressive denominations, Pentecostalism respects and absorbs native culture and offers exciting experience-based spirituality that has converted tens of millions in Latin America.
I have been impressed by some of what U have seen

In Peru, the locals have incorporated Catholicism into their Indiginous practices, so Jesus becomes also the Lord of Earthquakes :3


 
While Canadian indigenous people are leaving UCCan, in Latin America "in only a century Pentecostalism has become indigenous."


Unlike progressive denominations, Pentecostalism respects and absorbs native culture and offers exciting experience-based spirituality that has converted tens of millions in Latin America.
Yeah, I've found it interesting how the Latin American world is going more and more evangelical after being pretty strongly RC for a few centuries after colonization. And agree that part of it is that Pentacostalism and similar lean more into experiences that resemble those of the cultures down there.

We do need to keep in mind that in many parts of that world, people of mixed European and African descent vastly outnumber surviving indigenous populations and in some place like Hispaniola (i.e. the Dominican Republic and Haiti) and Cuba, indigenous people were pretty much either completely wiped out or absorbed into mixed race populations. So not quite equivalent to our indigenous population here. More like if the English had been more successful at destroying their cultures and incorporating them into the broader population. That's not universal (e.g. there are still Maya living in Guatemala and some states in Mexico) but is a difference between North America and many parts of Latin America.
 
There was a growing problem of evangelicals attempting to erase the authentic indigenous spirituality by replacing it with big box church style beliefs. Sometimes superficially co- opting certain elements of indigenous culture.
In one community, a food bank at an evangelical church on a rez was refusing food to the "unsaved" and telling them to go elsewhere.
What's happening now is that in some communities there's a long-overdue moratorium, expulsion and refusal to allow more extreme evangelicals to establish themselves. This is voted on by tribal council.
 
There was a growing problem of evangelicals attempting to erase the authentic indigenous spirituality by replacing it with big box church style beliefs. Sometimes superficially co- opting certain elements of indigenous culture.
In one community, a food bank at an evangelical church on a rez was refusing food to the "unsaved" and telling them to go elsewhere.
What's happening now is that in some communities there's a long-overdue moratorium, expulsion and refusal to allow more extreme evangelicals to establish themselves. This is voted on by tribal council.
Where was this?

And f*** that marketing ploy sheesh! Not Christian at all...man I miss Sunwarrior
 
I'm sure there is a lot of nuance there

A lot of lenses through which to look at that

Just like not all Catholics are child rapists

The lens through which one looks at things determines what can be seen

A fun thing aboot the CSJ lens is that it deconstructs EVERYTHING :3

Hope you are doing well

And enjoying tings
Read the history of the residential school system. Every major Christian denomination supported it, including the UCCan once they were formed. If there was resistance from Christian circles, it must have been awfully muted. People speaking up today doesn't count, because that's 20:20 hindsight. At the time, it was pretty clearly either regarded as a good thing to do or ignored. I am quite prepared to believe that there were Christians, maybe even some smaller churches or denominations opposed, but the large denominational organizations that were the face of Christianity in this country in that era were complicit in that system. Some have owned up to it, others still have a ways to go.
 
There was a growing problem of evangelicals attempting to erase the authentic indigenous spirituality by replacing it with big box church style beliefs. Sometimes superficially co- opting certain elements of indigenous culture.
In one community, a food bank at an evangelical church on a rez was refusing food to the "unsaved" and telling them to go elsewhere.
What's happening now is that in some communities there's a long-overdue moratorium, expulsion and refusal to allow more extreme evangelicals to establish themselves. This is voted on by tribal council.
Don't confuse evangelicalism with Pentecostalism--and I'm talking about Central American Pentecostalism.
 
Don't confuse evangelicalism with Pentecostalism--and I'm talking about Central American Pentecostalism.
Which is definitely a bit of a different beast, though they do get support from their Northern cousins in the US and Canada.
 
Somewhat aside, but I see that my undergrad alma mater, the University of Waterloo, is granting free tuition to two indigenous nations on whose traditional lands the university sits. Kind of an interesting approach to reconciliation, I think. The two are the Six Nations of the Grand and the Mississaugas of the Credit River. They also say that indigenous students from anywhere in North America will only be charged Ontario domestic tuition.

 
Contrast the offending missionary tract with Paul's missionary tact at the Athenian Areopagus ( a place I've visited):
"Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, "Athenians, I see how very religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, "To an unknown god." What, therefore, you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you (Acts 17:22-23)."
 
My big guy has a roommate who is an indigenous man, late middle age, affected by the 60s scoop (the unfortunate successor to the residential school system). He is just now reclaiming his roots, and he has a real chip on his shoulder, and rightly so, I think, about our culture's colonizing attitudes. We had a discussion about Victoria Day on Monday last, and agreed it should be "Planting Day" instead.
 
That’s where I have a problem with the “ self-gouvernment” structure of indigenous groups. On the one hand, it is positive that they can ban those religious nuts from their community- but on the other side, taking down someones sweat lodge on their own property is simply wrong. I think there is a need for additional structures that prevent such thing from happening. Now, it might be, that on reserve, people do not own their property and it is all property of the tribe- in which case they can decide whatever they want.
Being part of a community like this might not leave a lot of alternatives. Finding housing somewhere else is not an easy thing to do as well. So there is a bug in the system if the communities depend on the wisdom and skill of a leadership, which might not be there.
 
Now, it might be, that on reserve, people do not own their property and it is all property of the tribe- in which case they can decide whatever they want.
In fact, I believe this is legally the case but not sure without doing some research on the Indian Act.
 
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